


Patron of the Suicides

by Hotspur



Category: Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF, Julius Caesar - Shakespeare, La Divina Commedia | The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri
Genre: Based off the inferno, F/M, I need a better title, Redemption, Suicide, This has been in my head for years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-04-01 08:32:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4012852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hotspur/pseuds/Hotspur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A woman on a journey to save her husband.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patron of the Suicides

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea bouncing in my head since I read Inferno and Purgatorio in high school. It will eventually appear in one of my original stories.

She is famous for the way she died. A simple, intelligent, pure-hearted Roman matron, remembered in history and literature for her painful, horrific death. But she is also remembered for her bravery, loyalty, strength. And for her love for her husband, who loved her back. But all that is in the past.

On reaching the Horizon of Eternity, she was sent to Limbo, where the righteous pagans reside. There she was reunited with her father. But when the news came that her husband had died, he did not join her. His heart was too weighty. He was sent to the deepest pit, to be tortured by the fallen angel. 

She wondered why she had not been sent deeper, since she had killed herself. By all means, she should have been trapped forever in a tree, where she believed she belonged. Her father gruffly said "I raised you right, girl. You had too pure a heart." The miserable old stoic was right, she was too good for her fate. 

Time passed, although no one knew how long. New people from the city arrived. Then a time came when the powers and principalities and watchers and seraphim and cherubim and all sorts of hosts arrived with news. 

"What does it mean?" She asked. Her punishment seemed to be the terror of doubt, of ignorance of self and the world. 

"It means," her father replied, "the King has returned."

A new figure arrived, in complete splendor but at the same time in ultimate humility. He was beaten, torn, bloodied. He summoned many souls with him, and all gave him the deference of a king. 

"What kingdom do you rule?" She demanded, it had been drilled into her since infancy that kings were bad. 

"Only the Kingdom of Man," the man replied gently. Even though he had endured such pain, he looked peaceful. "Porcia Catonis, follow me." 

"Follow you? Where?" She asked, trailing after this man. 

"You too, Cato," the man said to her father. He turned back to her. "I have a need for you, Porcia."

"How do you know my name?" She asked.

"I know everyone's name."

-

Centuries pass. She is in a very different place. It is dark and cold, but it is far better than where she was. She is in a small office by a river, her workspace jammed full of file cabinets listing everyone who passes through. She and her father guard this place, situated just on the horizon. She cannot see the stars, although she had a glimpse of them as she left Limbo, following this strange King of Man. 

This has given her hope, as she files away thousands upon thousands of names, and she looks at the chain around her neck. Along with her dogtags, the ones listing her name, time period, sin, and punishment, there is a strange new thing, a cross. An instrument of execution. And now, she is told by the many who enter her realm, that it symbolizes hope and life and something they call salvation. 

It seems a lot like redemption, even for the most lost souls.

And it is then that she begins praying. Not to the old gods, who hold no power. She prays to the King of Man, but not for her own soul. She prays for the soul of her husband. She wants him freed, even if he doesn't deserve it and even if she would have to remain here forever. 

"He forgives all," says one of the people arriving. "Even if we don't deserve it." The people she meets, the recently departed, are sent on to burn off their sins. Eventually they will go to join the King. 

She has other jobs, besides filing away the names of the many seeking atonement. She committed suicide, so now she must stop others from doing so. 

She is the voice at the other end of a call to the suicide hotline. She speaks to you softly, keeping you talking until you are given a glimpse of freedom. 

She roams the streets of cities at night, dressed in a hooded jacket to keep warm as she walks the bridge in the rain to talk to the man who is standing on the edge. She has saved so many lives, yet people barley remember her. She is a shadow with a spark inside. They call her the patron of the suicides, as she is their protector.

And maybe one day she will win back the soul of her husband. He slaves away, chewed by the fallen angel who people erroneously think runs the place, and he cries, remembering his wife and the strength she had that he never did. And he looks up into the starless sky and prays, but it is futile. 

But every day she moves closer to his soul. She will free him one day.


End file.
